


Shorthand

by Rabbit_is_Good_Rabbit_is_Wise



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Mentioned Booker | Sebastien le Livre, Post-Canon, Team Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:15:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27101800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rabbit_is_Good_Rabbit_is_Wise/pseuds/Rabbit_is_Good_Rabbit_is_Wise
Summary: They've said goodbye to Book and they're about to say goodbye to England.Stopping over in Poole before heading back to the continent, the group has time to think. Joe is maudlin, Nicky is hopeful, Andy is drinking, and Nile is just trying to figure these people out.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 2
Kudos: 35
Collections: Good Intentions: Abandoned and Unfinished WIPs





	Shorthand

**Author's Note:**

> I'd originally wanted to write a cute little Joe/Nicky piece that somehow became this rumination on how we develop a shorthand to communicate with the people we're closest to. I'd always intended to flesh this out and include another section or two of Nile getting used to the group and Joe, Nicky, and Andy coming to terms with their new normal, but I never finished it.
> 
> So, while this can sort of stand on its own, in my head, it's part of a longer piece about the new group coming together and developing their own shorthand.

“For some, it’s like a pebble on the beach,” he says. Nile has no idea what he’s talking about. But that’s been true for most of the conversations she’s had for the past week. They’d been talking about the last time the group had been to Poole, about thirty years ago, but the conversation had slowly drifted into silence as the sun set. Joe keeps stealing drinks from the bottle clutched in his hand as they both watch darkness settle over the town.

“A pebble,” she finally asks.

Joe nods. “The pebbles on the shore. The water and the wind crash into them, caress them. For years. Until they’re smoother. Still the same core, but softer, easier to hold.” Joe takes a long drink, never meeting her eyes, just staring out into the twilight. “For others, the wind and the waves find holes, imperfections. They work away at them, exposing their faults. The jagged little crevices they’ve tried to hide only widen over time.” He sighs and stares out into the darkening landscape. “Or maybe it’s both,” he says, taking another drink.

“Both?” Nile is pretty sure she isn’t drunk enough to be having this conversation.

“Mio triste ubriaco,” comes a whisper from behind them.

Nile startles. Joe turns his head and takes another swig. “No,” he insists. He wipes his mouth with his arm and smirks as he looks at the bottle in his hand. “No, not yet.”

Nicky matches Joe's smile as he steps out onto the terrace and says to Nile, “He’s getting maudlin.”

“No,” Joe starts. “Just…” He tries to find the right word in any language he knows, but then he gives up with a shrug.

Nicky meets Joe’s eyes, widens his own slightly, and Joe shakes his head. “Fine.” He turns back around to the landscape. “Maudlin.”

Nile feels like she’s intruding, like she’s missed some important part of all of this. She steps back towards the door. Nicky’s hand lands on her shoulder. “He always gets like this after a bad job.”

Joe shakes his head and turns, with a strange laugh. “Bad job?”

Nicky shrugs and goes back in, disappearing into the apartment.

Nile looks from Nicky’s retreating form to Joe, unsure of what to do. There are entire conversations going on that she can’t quite parse.

Joe’s eyes track from where Nicky had been to Nile. He studies her for a moment and then smiles. “You’ll get used to it,” he says. He turns back towards the town, its lights blinking in the night. “We all get used to it.”

“Get used to what?”

He chuckles. “In the beginning, with Andy and Quynh.” Joe sounds wistful. “Sometimes they didn’t even talk. They’d just look at each other and know. Drove me crazy.” He goes to take another drink but then stops.

“And that’s supposed to help me how?”

He shrugs. “Enjoy the time before,” he says. “Sometimes it’s nice not to have other people in your head. Sometimes it’s good not to carry around those ghosts.”

From inside, Nicky calls out, “Maudlin.”

Joe shakes his head and flips him the bird.

Nile doesn’t want to point out the utter hypocrisy in what he’s saying versus what he’s doing, so she waits a moment for Joe to continue. When he doesn’t, she makes her way inside. She goes into the small dining room and sits across from Andy who’s been watching them. “You work with people long enough, you develop a shorthand.”

Nile shrugs, reaching for a glass and nodding towards the wine bottle next to Andy. As Andy fills her glass, she says, “I’m just ready not to feel like the outsider here.”

“It’ll happen,” Nicky says from the kitchen.

“We’re all outsiders,” Joe says.

Andy rolls her eyes and leans back towards the kitchen. “Nicky, are you going to do something about…” She points towards Joe as she takes a drink.

Nicky is already walking towards the terrace, wiping his hands on his jeans and muttering in Italian. There’s a quick exchange between the two men before Nicky leads Joe back to their room.

Nile raises an eyebrow. “He always like this when he drinks?”

“Oh, he’s not drunk.”

Nile raises an eyebrow.

“Joe doesn’t drink,” Andy says.

“So that’s just…”

“That’s Joe,” Andy says with a smirk.

Nicky walks by carrying a bottle of sparkling grape juice. “He’s taking a nap.”

“Good,” Andy says.

“Are you?” Nicky lets the rest of the question dangle there.

“Am I,” Andy asks, taking another drink.

Nicky nods towards his bedroom and then cocks his head, daring Andy to misunderstand him.

“I’m fine,” she says with no feeling.

Nicky rolls his eyes and turns to Nile.

“What,” she asks. He gives her an annoyed look. “I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on. Still new to all this, remember?”

Nicky’s features soften as he puts a hand on Andy’s shoulder. “Sometimes we forget.”

“Forget,” Nile asks.

“That things must change,” Nicky answers. “Nothing lasts forever.” He squeezes Andy’s shoulder. When she doesn’t respond, he looks into her eyes—another unspoken conversation—before he finally says, “Il suo dolore lo accecò.” He returns to the kitchen.

“Doesn’t make it easier,” Andy calls after him before taking another drink.

Nile crosses her arms and shoots Andy an annoyed look. “What,” Andy asks.

Nile rolls her eyes. “I guess I need to learn Italian,” she mutters.

Andy smiles as she takes another drink. “French too.”

“Great,” Nile deadpans.

The seconds tick by and Nile feels a weight descend over them again. She meets Andy’s eyes. “You sure you’re okay?”

Andy puts her glass down and stares at the table, wishing she could describe the feeling in her chest, the sense of betrayal and loss and anger that has been throbbing inside her since she’d said goodbye to Booker earlier that day. She whispers, “It’ll just take some time.”

“Time,” Nile breathes out. “We’ve got plenty of that.”

“Not all of us,” Andy says.

Nile frowns. She holds out her glass for more wine and Andy obliges, refilling her own as well.

Andy stares at her glass, twisting it so the wine catches the light. She sets it down and glances up at Nile. “I’m not trying to…” She takes a deep breath. “It’s been a long time since we’ve had anyone new. And it’s not just that. There’s…” Her hand tightens on her glass. “Book. Me. You. It’s a lot to take in.”

“All three at once,” Nile says. Andy nods and takes another drink. Nile studies the woman in front of her. “I’d think change would be welcome.”

Andy gives a bitter laugh. “Maybe not this much.” She looks over at Nile. “Maybe not all at once.” She lets out a slow breath and whispers, “Maybe not Book.”

Nile nods. She stares at her glass for a few breaths before asking, “So is that what…” She points back to Joe and Nicky’s room.

Andy shrugs “That. Me? Who knows?” She finishes her wine. “Probably doesn’t help to watch Nicky get killed either.”

Nile licks her lips and tries to imagine that. She’s still having trouble with the idea that she’s immortal. Thinking about the others as immortal in any meaningful way… She picks up her glass, looking at it like it might hold the answers she’s searching for.

“A lot to take in,” Andy says.

“Yeah,” Nile says, taking a long drink. “It is.”

**# # # #**

Nicky wakes with a gasp. Something is wrong, and in the millisecond it takes to figure out what that is, he dies a thousand deaths. He lets out a shaky breath as he realizes his back is cold. “Joe,” he whispers.

“Sleep,” Joe says.

Nicky rolls over and switches on the light, rubbing his eyes and sitting up next to Joe. He turns to him. “What’s wrong?”

Joe chuckles and shakes his head, rubbing at his eyes, which are wet and red. Nicky reaches for Joe’s hand and cradles it in both of his. “Caro.”

Joe stares straight ahead. “He…” He sucks in a breath and turns to Nicky, his eyes desperate. “I…I wanted to rip his heart out. I…” He turns, grabbing up Nicky’s hands in his own. “He hurt you. He gave you and Andy to those, those monsters and he was going to let them…”

Joe shudders and Nicky wraps his arms around him, drawing him in. “Shhhhhh,” Nicky whispers. “We made it out. We’re good. We’re fine.” He kisses the top of Joe's head.

Joe turns and grabs Nicky’s face in his hands. “He tried to hurt you and I…”

Nicky closes his eyes and leans his forehead into Joe’s. He knows what Joe is feeling. He feels it too. That overwhelming fear at losing the one person who is your anchor, the only thing that makes this strange existence bearable.

And the fact that it was Book who sold them out…

Nicky realizes his hands are shaking. He pulls Joe even closer, feathering light kisses down Joe’s cheek, trying to show him that they’re still alive, still together. “Sempre,” he breathes against Joe’s neck.

Joe is twisting and pulling Nicky down with him. “دائما,” he whispers, searching for Nicky’s lips and smiling as he finds them…

**# # # #**

Joe is chipper as he brings the coffee pot to the table. Andy lifts her cup and Joe fills it. He turns to Nile, whose head is in her hands. “Coffee,” he asks.

Nile turns her head slightly. Her eyes are bloodshot, and the look she shoots Joe is pure murder. “Yeah,” she says, before closing her eyes again.

“Bad night,” Andy asks.

“I’m pretty sure I know why you let me take the room next to theirs,” Nile says. 

Joe laughs as he walks back to the kitchen, calling out to Nicky, “Immagino che ieri sera abbiamo fatto un po 'di rumore, caro.”

Nile groans and sinks back onto the table. “Can you just say it in English, please?”

Andy smiles. “Welcome to the team, kid.”

**Author's Note:**

> Please forgive my Italian and Arabic--I tried my best with both.


End file.
